My grandmother had a basinje biatch who did this for a family cat. They shared the nursing. Pretty damn awesome. Just when you think nature is all hardcore survival at all costs...you see a mother being all motherly to babies she didn't even carry. Good stuff.

FeatheredSun:My grandmother had a basinje biatch who did this for a family cat. They shared the nursing. Pretty damn awesome. Just when you think nature is all hardcore survival at all costs...you see a mother being all motherly to babies she didn't even carry. Good stuff.

1) Basenjies are totally awesome, if the one I've met is any indication.

2) Truth, nature is not always as hard core as we see. Back when I was a kid on a farm, we had a tomcat (toms usually kill kittens) bring orphan kittens back to a nursing mama cat.

And oddly, elephants seem to be all into this. If a young cow can't/won't nurse her newborn, other cows will. Same with cattle.

Ok, I don't know why I'm posting. Back to the corner with me.

waiting on my alt to become active. I've had this for years, it's boring.

mcwehrle:FeatheredSun: My grandmother had a basinje biatch who did this for a family cat. They shared the nursing. Pretty damn awesome. Just when you think nature is all hardcore survival at all costs...you see a mother being all motherly to babies she didn't even carry. Good stuff.

1) Basenjies are totally awesome, if the one I've met is any indication.

2) Truth, nature is not always as hard core as we see. Back when I was a kid on a farm, we had a tomcat (toms usually kill kittens) bring orphan kittens back to a nursing mama cat.

And oddly, elephants seem to be all into this. If a young cow can't/won't nurse her newborn, other cows will. Same with cattle.

Ok, I don't know why I'm posting. Back to the corner with me.

waiting on my alt to become active. I've had this for years, it's boring.

And I've seen a mommy farm cat eat its freshly stillborn kittens.

/There is not enough eyebleach in the world to get rid of that image//What are you doing kitty? What are you... OH MY GOD!!!!!

/There is not enough eyebleach in the world to get rid of that image//What are you doing kitty? What are you... OH MY GOD!!!!!

Oh, I've seen that, and cows savage a malformed calf, bulls savage a calf while the cow just stood there. sheep refusing to feed the runt until it starves to death and then the chickens eat it (chickens are creepy and brutal, and I'm glad I eat them :) ). Nature can, and usually is, very practical. We call it brutal, but that's life.

Contents Under Pressure:The reason they do this is that the exhibits are too small. If the tiger had a decent size exhibit, she'd take care of her cubs.

Sometimes. It's also because, especially with higher mammals, maternal behavior is as much learned as it is instinctive. Take an animal away from its mother too soon, or raise it in captivity by humans, and it won't learn what to do with its babies. Especially true with animals that stay with the mother for more than a year or two.

Gyrfalcon:Contents Under Pressure: The reason they do this is that the exhibits are too small. If the tiger had a decent size exhibit, she'd take care of her cubs.

Sometimes. It's also because, especially with higher mammals, maternal behavior is as much learned as it is instinctive. Take an animal away from its mother too soon, or raise it in captivity by humans, and it won't learn what to do with its babies. Especially true with animals that stay with the mother for more than a year or two.

mcwehrle:And oddly, elephants seem to be all into this. If a young cow can't/won't nurse her newborn, other cows will. Same with cattle.

I remember watching some Tru TV story with my sister about a circus elephant who nursed an abandoned calf and bonded immediately with it. Well, they were separated when the nursing cow was sold to a petting zoo where she was abused and neglected for something like 12 years until she was rescued and put in an elephant sanctuary. She was starving herself, totally depressed and had to be quarantined. Then a bull was brought in and was aggressive to everyone, was almost too dangerous to handle and after nearly killing a cow was boarded up. Well the night he was put up workers heard commotion at the barn as if two elephants were killing each other. When they got in they saw the depressed cow and the bull literally ripping apart their pens and breaking only to extend their trunks to one another. So the workers, wanting to preserve their barn, opened the doors and ran only to see these two elephants embrace. They went back and traced the paperwork for these two elephants and realized that they were at the same circus and noted that she was his nurse mother. After that she began eating regularly again and he stopped being a dick.

Then I looked over at my sister. She must have been having a menopausal moment or something because she was bawling her eyes out.

No kidding, the cubs are tiny for the first couple months. Large dogs have been adopive moms for tigers/lions before, they can produce enough milk. Cutest pics are when the mom has a couple of puppies at the same time as well.